Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

Momma

Emily Greene

(Steel, wire, burlap, lace, hemp)

2014

A depiction of the face of mother nature, I tried to capture the imperfections of humanity while creating a natural environment for these objects to grow. Known to be the giver of life and nurturer, this feminine face gives off a peaceful aura.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Inspired by my large scale print work, I wanted to translate the flat print matrix into the three-dimensional world. These printed bricks represent the individual person or groups and how social society is constructed and the possibility of losing oneself among the others.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

I find circles to be one of the most interesting shapes. They have no beginning or end and can be combined in ways and patterns to create really beautiful forms. They are infinite, and I wanted to create the illusion of a whirlwind of rings coming out of space. I also combined a very delicate material with an industrial material to create a contrast in color and style.

Monday, October 13, 2014

This piece brings together the simplicity of a traditional covered Conestoga Wagon and the audacity of a Dragster Racing Car. Conestoga wagons were built in a time for traveling with goods for a long journey. Now we live in a world where Dragsters are built and consume close to 23 Gallons of fuel to complete a quarter mile run. Ever wonder how efficient the pioneers would have been with that kind of gas mileage?

We are made a very specific way with a determined interaction of parts standard to any one specie. It is the initial and precise formation that we bend and mold in our specific directions spotted with imperfection and consequently, uniqueness and beauty. Once individually formed into the vessels we are, waiting to be filled, we are forced and bound together to cohere with our peers and our society, taking unique parts and obscuring them to make a cohesive whole. Once society has gained its form, it can be viewed from many perspectives, and while from one direction it may seem a harmonious and cohesive whole, its view from a slightly different angle may appear only as a mess. Here, I provide my viewer with the whole, and only with further and closer inspection can each of the individual vessels be revealed.

This piece was initially inspired by tea and tea leaves. After researching the idea more, it expanded and I explored the monks of Zen Buddhism and their practice of yoga. The monks used to drink tea to stay awake so they could meditate without falling asleep. I decided to incorporate the two together by referencing the position in which the monks would meditate in and adding the tea bags for emphasis. The combination of the organic fluid figure with the commercial tea bags brings in a juxtaposition of the materials and the overall idea. The paper beneath the sculpture was also part of the process and how the liquid form of the tea leaves an imprint just the same as the practice of meditation imprints on the monks themselves.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

This piece explores the ideas of routine and habitual behavior. Even though it's sometimes easy to fall into routine, the variations of life are inevitable. This sculpture is a mapping of my struggles to deal with chaos within my regimented routines.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Honeybees, sharks, and hunter-gatherer tribes each follow a similar random walk in traveling, hunting, pollination, etc. The "steps" can be mathematically calculated and while each path is not identical, they each follow a similar angular shape in which the groups cover one large area, travel in a single line elsewhere and repeat. This path was illustrated using a GPS tracking device that traced the footpath of the Hadzabe, one of the last native hunter-gatherer tribes in Tanzania.

In January 2014, I spent a month traveling throughout the country of Tanzania learning about wildlife, conservation areas and the culture of several tribes that hosted me. One of the most fascinating groups that I stayed with was the Hadza tribe and had the opportunity to go on a hunting outing with one of the members named Paulo (who told us we had heavy feet.. we didn't catch anything).

My piece simplifies the overall form of the path illustrated by the Hadzabe's recorded travel. The wooden dowel rods and hemp represent the flexible wood and animal hyde used to make bows and arrows which the tribe hunts with. I wanted the grass to overgrow where the piece was installed, which it will continue to do as it remains there. There are moments where the string varies randomly throughout the dowel rods to indicate the unpredictability of the path based on the events of each hunting outing. It is large enough to walk around, explore and notice the interactions that the lines created by the string have with one another as it changes with the individual's location and proximity to the piece.